by Michael DeLaney
This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!
And so the Guardians’ time as Nova Corpsmen seems to have come to an end as they finally root out the Raptor spies posing as Novas. Guardians of the Galaxy 150 wraps up the Nova arc while setting the stage for Infinity Countdown. Overall, it’s a little messy. I’ll say this for the issue though, it finally gives Ant-Man his due. Every now and then Ant-Man pulls out a show-stopping performance that makes you wonder “why doesn’t he do that ALL the time?!”
Scott Lang goes subatomic to travel via laser blast onto the enemy ship, before Aaron Kuder and Marcus To have him go gigantic, tearing the ship apart in the process. It’s a moment that reminds you of the epic surprises that superhero tales can contain. Rocket Raccoon quips that Lang’s big moment alone was worth the price of his admission to the Guardians.
Adam Warlock is a character that has always eluded me, and he returns in this issue to do more of the same. He visits Gamora’s trapped soul stone fragment and eventually Kang the Conqueror. All I’m really certain of in this scenes is how it is setting up Infinity Countdown.
In the battle with the Raptors, Drax once again tragically — albeit comically, because it’s Drax — accidentally claims another life.
At the end of the issue he decides he must return to his peaceful life of solitude. Drax began Gerry Duggan’s run as a repentant sinner vowing to live a life of peace, and he’s exiting it the same way. Did the Guardians not respect Drax’s choices by once again dragging him into the fray? Is Duggan painting Star-Lord & Co. to be selfish friends, just wanting the band back together?
The conversation doesn’t stop there. What do you wanna talk about from this issue?
Retcon Punch 
Scott’s moment is great, but feels a bit too derivative of the movies. Mix the ending of Ant Man with the shock of Giant Man in Civil War. Duggan really needs to watch the Giant Man transformations, as he keeps trying to recapture that Civil War moment, which isn’t goign to work. Eventually, Scott growing large has to be ordinary (and no, Rocket, that moment wasn’t worth Scott joining the Guardians. Duggan still hasn’t provided a story reason for Scott to be there).
On Drax, I think the other Guardians haven’t liked Drax’s choice and constantly mocked it, but they have respected it. They’ve always let Drax set the terms, and even when they want him to do something violent, they always let Drax do what he wanted. I think the real problem was the temptation. It was too easy to be violent. It was like a recovering alcoholic joining friends binge drinking. It was never going to be easy to join them with a lemonade. And so, he had to remove himself from temptation, and they let him. Rocket was an arsehole, but he always is. Peter even found him something that let Drax have peace. I think they’ve been good friends.
Also, I’m interested to see Richard Rider stick around. SInce coming back, we haven’t really had much chance to see him with the Guardians. Want to see more of that.
But Adam Warlock. Urgh… There is nothing about Warlock to be eluded by. He’s just a bad, boring character. Infinity Gauntlet was a pretty terrible event. Starlin’s has a sexist streak bad even compared to his contempories in the time that really hurts the comic (hey, who needs THanos’ daughter in the ultimate Thanos book. Gamora’s real purpose in the event should be to sew some clothes then die. And naturally, ti is important to make clear that a genocidal maniac like Thanos who killed half the universe is a much better wielder of the Gauntlet than an emotional, unstable woman. Luckily, the patriarchs of the Marvel Universe, including the genocidal maniac, can save the day from an emotional, unstable woman). But the biggest problem is Adam Warlock is just a terrible character who weakens everything by acting as a force to make the narrative more boring. He isn’t interesting, and serves to make sure interesting characters are all subservient to him so that we don’t have to suffer actual characters have an important presence in the story.
And as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy, he is boring. His powers are never explained and just exist to do magic plot stuff, and in a team full of dynamic personalities, he is just there to talk all about important plot stuff without having an interesting bone in his body. Thank god for the Magus, because that’s the sole thing to make Warlock interesting. And even Magus is only interesting thanks to the assumption of empathy. Because you can’t care for Warlock.
I’d been dreading his arrival in this book, and here he is, just as boring and awful as ever. At least Kang could be a fun addition to the story